We can confirm that Batman Giant #3 and Teen Titans Giant #3 have appeared at Walmart.  Alas, the Walmart I usually check up on these things at has changed the position of the box from the top shelf near the corner of the aisle to a lower shelf  a few feet in from the edge.  Now you absolutely have to know what you’re looking for to find it and if someone is using the self-checkout opposite the box, you might not be able to get at it until the aisle clears.  Particularly if you need to lean over to examine the comics.

Once more there were 11 copies of each issue deposited in the box, some of them in the back slots, as you can see above and some of them behind Justice League and Superman in the lower slots of the box.  It didn’t look like Superman and Justice League had been refilled at this particular Walmart.

This was the debut of Brian Bendis writing Batman, and I have to say that the first 12 pages lived up to all the hype.  Bendis does a superlative job with an extra sardonic Alfred, the Riddler set up works and the last panel reminds me of early Ultimate Spider-Man in terms of the “wait… what?!?” ending of the chapter.  Nick Derington’s a good partner in crime for Bendis and it flows well.  Here’s The Beat’s preview from Thursday, so have a peek at it.  This is the first Walmart piece I’ve read where I’ve sat up and wondered why this creator combination wasn’t flagship “normal” title.

Looking at the advertisements in these, since the stated idea behind the Walmart comics is to bring new readers into the Direct Market, the back cover for both is Black Label’s Batman White Knight.  Seeing as how Dan DiDio and Walmart have been saying these Giant comics are targeted at a 10-15 year old audience, I would question whether a mature reader title is the appropriate thing to be advertising to that audience?  Particularly, one with a nudity included Harley Quinn/Joker sex scene restored for the collected edition.  It’s bold, but perhaps a demographic mismatch?

Both Batman Giant and Teen Titans Giant both have an ad for the Comic Shop Locator on the last page of each issue.

Batman’s ads:  (Bat-ads, if you prefer)

  • Jim Lee collections – Hush (serialized in this comic), Superman Unchained, Justice League V.1, All-Star Batman & Robin
  • New 52 Justice League tpbs
  • Jeph Loeb/Tim Sale Batman collections (Long Halloween, Dark Victory and Haunted Knight), plus Catwoman: When in Rome
  • Injustice: Gods Among Us collections
  • New 52 Nightwing collections (serialized in this comic)
  • Rebirth Nightwing collections
  • Wolfman / Perez New Teen Titans collections
  • Scott Snyder collections (Batman: Black Mirror, Superman Unchained, Batman: Gates of Gotham and Batman Eternal)
  • New 52 Harley Quinn collections (serialized in this comic)
  • Rebirth Harley Quinn collections
  • New 52 Suicide Squad (with Harley on the covers)
  • Rebirth Vol. 1’s: Suicide Squad, Hellblazer, Red Hood and the Outlaws, Harley Quinn
  • Brian Azzarello collections: Joker, Luthor, Superman: For Tomorrow, Wonder Woman: Blood
  • Random Rebirth collections page: Batman/Flash: The Button, DC Universe Rebirth, Superman: Action Comics: The Oz Effect, Justice League of America V. 3: Panic in the Microverse

Teen Titan’s ads:

  • Heroes in Crisis 2-page spread
  • Wolfman / Perez New Teen Titans collections
  • New 52 Teen Titans collections
  • Grant Morrison Batman collections
  • Earth One series of graphic novels, two page spread
  • New 52 Batman and Robin collections
  • Jim Lee collections – Hush, Superman Unchained, Justice League V.1, All-Star Batman & Robin
  • Justice League (the current Snyder bi-weekly series) 2-page spread
  • New 52 Green Arrow (interestingly, using the later volumes of Lemire and Sorrentino for the graphics, but not the first 3)
  • New 52 Nightwing collections
  • Batgirl (of Burnside) V. 1-3 and Black Canary

Interesting that Teen Titans continued the trend from Superman Giant and Justice League Giant of promoting some current Direct Market single issues, but Batman Giant is all about the collected editions in the ads.  Read into that what you will, I have no explanation.

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5 COMMENTS

  2. My understanding was that DC decided the collected edition of Batman: White Knight won’t have the nudity after all.

  3. “My understanding was that DC decided the collected edition of Batman: White Knight won’t have the nudity after all.”

    And that’s why Black Label might as well be a scarlet letter A. Black Label is now a joke as an imprint, even when individual titles might be creative successes.

  4. Here’s one to fire some people up. Bendis tweeted out that his Batman story is “in continuity,” so its next issue new character will be a “first appearance.” Yeah, still don’t see any of this being in continuity to the extent anyone will ever reference it. But all the arbitragers can go ape over that speculator cash. I’m still not interested in any of it. Just give me an ACTUAL Batman story I enjoy reading for less than $3 and we’ll be perfect.

  5. I finally got to my nearby Walmart that appears to be getting regular stock on these an what was different now is that there was an ample supply of issue #3 of all four comics, but zero copies of the first two issues.

    It should also be noted that they are also pushing these on the DC Daily reports on DC Online.

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